My Friend Forever
by Princess Darkcloud
Summary: They met when they were 8, and now, 8 years later, Suna's Summer festival brings them together again. However, due to a heavy blow to the head, Lee has lost most of his memories and reverts to childlike behavior, but Gaara's there to help him out. fluffy
1. Chapter 1

Warning: EXTREMELY OUT OF CHARACER

Warning: EXTREMELY OUT OF CHARACER!! Don't kill me please! looks down AAAAAAAH! BOOM

Gaara sat at his desk rubbing his temples. It had taken all day and into the night, but he had finally finished a stack of papers that was almost half his height. He opened a drawer in his desk and took out the bottle of aspirin he had for such occasions. Once he had taken the pill he rose from his desk and slowly made his way towards the window. He saw the village enjoying the annual summer festival and started to tense up with mild irritation. Garra saw all of the colorful lights, and bustling people and all the stalls filled with food and games. He saw all the happy faces and heard very soft, but clearly audible laughter.

The Kazekage's irritation only continued to grow as he continued to watch this event unfold. He looked at the clock. '10:43,' he thought, 'only an hour and 17 minutes until midnight.' Gaara had been watching the clock ever since he had first started the papers. He knew that at midnight Suna's festival would end with a display of fireworks. As much as the Kazekage hated all the merriness of the actual festival, he would always enjoy going to the roof to watch the magnificent display of fireworks. As long as he could remember, he had always watched them alone. He had always secretly wished that he could watch them with a special someone, but he knew that that would be absolutely out of the question. He knew that no one in their right mind would want a monster as their special someone. He heard a knock at the door, which brought him out of his thoughts.

"Come in." He said without even turning around. In walked Temari. She was dressed in a beautiful lavender summer kimono.

"Hey Gaara," she said softly and then turned around and said not nearly as soft, "Kankuro, get over here." Gaara heard several grumbles and then a loud thwack. Kankuro followed his sister into the room, all the while rubbing his now throbbing head.

"Hey Bro—" he started to say.

"No." Gaara simply stated. He knew why they were here.

"Why not Gaara?" Temari asked impatiently. Losing the gentle tone in her voice. Her voice was now one of sheer irritation.

"You know why." Gaara said, finally turning around.

Temari sighed an exasperated sigh. "Fine Gaara. We'll see you later. C'mon Kankuro."

"See you later Gaara." Kankuro said as he closed the door behind him and Temari. Gaara turned to face the window again. He put his hand up to the glass. His mind began to drift back to when he was little…

"Wow!" Gaara couldn't help but say this out loud, even though there was no one there, or so he thought.

"Yeah, you're right! I heard Suna's fireworks were amazing, but I never expected this!" Gaara wheeled around to find the owner of this unexpected voice. "Up here!" It called. Gaara looked up and saw a little boy with jet-black hair in a braid down to his waist. The stranger hopped down from his position in the tree. Gaara stood there with an emotionless expression plastered onto his face.

"Hi!" The eager little boy said extending his hand, " I'm—" the boy didn't get to finish before he tripped over one of the tree's roots and fell on his face, foot hooked on the root, butt in the air, and mouth full of dirt. The boy gave an expression that was both quizzical and disgusted. (A/N: the point is, it was a funny face ok?!) His eyes widened even more and spat out the dirt and started to make rather funny sounding gagging and sputtering noises. Gaara's emotionless face broke out into a smile and soon after he started to laugh a little.

After the boy spat out the last bit of dirt, he smiled and reintroduced himself.

"Heh heh, sorry about that. Anyway, as I was saying, hi! I'm Rock Lee," he said extending his hand from his spot on the ground, "But you can call me Lee! What's you name?"

Gaara took a step back and put his arms in front of him in a defensive and scared way.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" Lee asked. Worry spread across his features. Lee got up from the ground and bushed himself off. "Did I do something wrong?" Lee stretched out his hand to the redhead, only to get a small whimper. He withdrew his hand when he saw the poor boy on the ground with his hands over his head. When Gaara didn't feel any pain from a hit or a slap or any other form of abuse he looked up, still scared, but confused.

"You….You aren't going to hurt me?" Gaara asked still on the ground. Lee looked confused and saddened at the thought of the boy only expecting pain from any physical contact.

"Why would I want to hurt you?" Lee asked, more concerned than ever.

"Everyone else wants to so I assumed..." Gaara trailed off. Lee kneeled down next to the little red-haired boy. "I'm sorry," Gaara's eyes opened as wide as they could, "But I would never want to hurt you." Lee smiled, "So, what's your name?"

"G-Gaara…just Gaara." Gaara said taking his hands off his head, "W…Will you—"

"LITTLE BOY!" Lee felt a firm hand on his shoulder. "Ahh!" Lee shouted surprised and scared. "Little boy, I can tell you're not from here so I'll tell you something you should know." The man swaggered a little. He was obviously drunk and he had a big, almost empty sake bottle in his other hand. "That kid," he pointed at Gaara, "Is a MONSTER! He'll Kiiill yaaaa…kiiiilllll yaaa-ha-ha…" He said chugging the last bit of his sake, "Go to hellll! hic MONSTER!" He said throwing the bottle at Gaara. It hit Gaara's barrier of sand and crashed onto the ground. Gaara looked from the bottle to Lee with tears in his eyes. He turned around and was about to run when he heard a cry.

"YOU TRIED TO HURT MY FRIEND! HE'S NOT THE MONSTER! YOU ARE!" Lee screamed and hit the man in the stomach, which made him fall to the ground and throw up the contents of his stomach, which mainly consisted of alcoholic beverages. Soon after he collapsed on the ground, unconscious from his massive intake of alcohol. Lee turned to face a now stunned Gaara. Lee ran over, gave him a quick hug, and holding onto his shoulders said, "I have to go now Gaara, I hope we'll meet again." He released his new friend and as he was running towards the center of town he shouted over his shoulder, "I'll miss you Gaara-san! And don't worry, I'll come back!"

'It has been eight years since then.' Gaara thought, 'A lot has changed since we were eight Lee. I hope even after all these years, you will still keep your promise and return to Suna.' Gaara hadn't seen Lee since that night Lee had defended him. Gaara looked at the clock, 11:04. He turned his gaze back out the window with a softer expression gracing his features. 'I hope we're still friends…Lee."


	2. Chapter 2

Warning: This chapter isn't that great, it's kinda…

Warning: This chapter isn't that great, it's kinda….weird and I found it very irritating . oh well…that's just me looks into quiet audience SIR PLEASE DON'T— Bang! (Can people die twice? Oo;;)

Gaara turned around leaning his back against the window. He slowly slid to the floor and covered his face with his hands. The Advil he had taken earlier wasn't helping. He looked at the clock again, only 15 minutes till midnight. He sighed, 'I might as well head out now.' He headed towards the window. Something in the festival had caught his attention. A rather large crowd had gathered and Gaara wanted to know what was going on. He walked away from the window and headed towards the door. When he finally got around to opening the door, he was greeted with Temari's fist about an inch from his face. Gaara stood there showing no surprise, while Temari jumped back a couple feet.

"G-Gaara!" Temari cleared her throat, "I uhh…I just…I-I-"

"I know," Gaara interrupted, "I'm going."

"No Gaara, that's not the main reason I came here, you see—"

"There's been an attack at the village." Kankuro cut in

"What happened?" Gaara asked as the three started running toward the crowd.

"A young man, maybe a year older than you, Gaara, was attacked by a group of drunkards". Temari explained.

"What did he look like?" Gaara Questioned.

"Well—" Kankuro started before he was cut off by cries of the crowd. The crown started to separate so that their Kazekage could get through to the young lad. Gaara finally reached the body. AS he looked over the body, his eyes widened and he fell to his knees by the body. The injured young man had suffered a large blow to his head, which rendered him unconscious. Blood was spread all over his face and some onto green uniform. Gaara turned to the crowd and told them to continue to enjoy the festival and that Temari and Kankuro would find the drunkards who did this as he took the lad back to his personal medical team.

As the crowd slowly started to return to the festival, Gaara picked up the boy, and headed back to his own personal quarters. The boy's black hair moved slightly in the wind, even though it was caked with dried blood.

When Gaara finally arrived, he placed the battered ten onto his rarely used bed and called for his medic team. As the team got to work cleaning the head wound and other assorted smaller wounds, Gaara leaned against the wall. All of his thoughts were on the teen just beyond the wall he now was sitting up against. He heard the fireworks begin to go off but didn't bother to pay them any mind. He was pondering what could have lead to this series of events.

'Why had the young man been attacked?' Gaara thought to himself, 'That was obvious. They were drunk; anything could have set them off. But what had he done that would get them to attack him?'

No matter how hard he thought nothing came to mind. He heard a set of footsteps from around the corner. Rising to his feet, he saw his siblings approaching.

"We have the drunkards locked up and ready for questioning." Kankuro stated calmly, "They weren't much of a fight, considering they were knocked out with a few weak punches. I'm amazed they actually injured that kid."

Kankuro continued to ramble on; Gaara wasn't too sure what because he had tuned his brother out. The part he had heard deeply troubled him,

'How WERE they able to hit him like that, the last time I had seen him, eight years ago, he boy finished off a drunk with a single blow…what would've happened'

"Gaara, you have to question the drunks." Temari reminded him. The Kazekage sighed. This new system was annoying, why couldn't they just kill them. Gaara ran this through his head several times, 'Well, I would like to know happened, so I guess they could be of some use. That is, if they recall anything at all.'

Gaara finally reached the ward and walked inside. He walked up to the first man whose hands were cuffed to the table. Gaara stood opposite him and just stared down at him. 'He seems,' Gaara thought, 'Almost familiar…'

"DAMN YOOOOU!! RELEEEEEASE ME BASTARRRD!" The still drunken man shouted. The words didn't hurt. He had heard so many of them they that they had lost their effect. Still the drunk continued, "WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO NOW MOOOONSTER? YOU'RE STUUUPID BODY GUARD'S DEAD!? NOW I CAN KIIIILL YOU WITHOUT ANYONE STOPPING MEEE! THE LAST TIME YOU JUST GOT LUCKYYY! MY GANG WILL KIIIIILL YOU! YOU MONSTER!!" Gaara's eyes widened to a point where they were almost perfectly round. This was not only the person who tried to kill the only friend he'd every had, but also the drunkard from eight years ago. "You—You tried to kill..." Gaara couldn't finish his sentence. "Kill who monster? You're friend? HA! You'll never have a friend you—" He was abruptly cut off by a hard blow to his jaw.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

"You—You tried to kill my only friend. You tried to kill Lee"


	3. Chapter 3

The drunk sat at the table

The drunk sat at the table. The look Gaara gave him scared him out if his mind. His hands were shaking the restraints, making a small clanking noise. Gaara's sand was swirling around him like mad. The cloud was becoming so thick that Gaara was barely visible behind the mass, except for his cold, hard eyes.

"You will die here," Gaara growled with a voice dripping with hate and revenge, "You MONSTER." The sand started to wrap more tightly around the drunk. He started to scream, and tried to shake the table he was still attached to, anything to make noise so that someone could save him from his demise. Gaara lifted the man and shook him. His wrists started to bleed, but Gaara continued until he had snapped the restraints off of the man's bloody, broken wrists.

"Gaara!" Temari and Kankuro came bursting into the room, they immediately grabbed onto their brother. Temari tried to calm him down with soothing words, but they had no affect. Gaara got impatient with his siblings and threw them off of him. He looked at the face of his prisoner, the only part of him left uncovered. He had started to cry.

"You are pathetic. At the moment, you're not even worth killing." Gaara slammed the man into the wall, "Lock him up. I will be visiting him later." Gaara turned around and stiffly walked out of the door and slammed the door behind him. He heard muffled cries and shouts of protest coming from the drunk as Temari and Kankuro tried to restrain him without coming in contact with his nearly destroyed wrists.

Gaara began walking down the long, dark, abandoned hallways on his way towards where Lee was resting. Once he reached the door, he knocked quietly and waited for a response. A nurse opened the door. Her expression was one of shock, but it quickly changed to a fake mask of happiness and optimism. Gaara knew the smile was fake; he knew that underneath that smile was a young lady who was probably more scared of the irritated man in front of her.

"Please come in Kazekage-sama." Gaara nodded and slowly entered the room. The doctors had hooked Lee up to an IV and had laid him in Gaara's bed with an air tube attached to the shallow breathing Leaf shinobi. As the nurses fiddled with different machines, Gaara just watched from the door. Soon they had finished and left Gaara alone with Lee. He pulled up a cheap folding chair and sat next to the bed.

After about an hour, he heard someone enter the room. One of the nurses had come to check the machines. She stared at several monitors, adjusted some knobs, and wrote notes on her clipboard, but other than that, she stayed absolutely silent. Or at least, until Gaara asked her a question, "When will he wake up?" Gaara asked simply.

"He's in a coma Kazekage-sama," she replied putting down her notes temporarily, "It's up to him when he wakes up. No one knows exactly when he'll wake. It could be as soon as a couple hours, or as long as several months." Gaara turned back to Lee. Even though she knew he couldn't see him, the nurse bowed and left the room.

About another few hours or so later, Temari walked in the room. Gaara had not moved since the nurse had left. "G-Gaara?" She asked sleepily, "W-" she yawned, "Why are you still here, it's almost 5 in the morning." Gaara didn't answer. He didn't need to. He just kept staring at his friend. Temari sighed, "Oh well, here," she handed him a book, "I had a hunch you would still be here, anyway, It's a good book, it'll help pass the time. You'll have to come to your office sometime around eight though." She stumbled out of the room, still in a sleepy trance. Gaara looked at the book, then at Lee, and then back at the book. He sighed and turned the book to the first page.

Once he reached the third chapter, he closed the book. As intriguing as it was, he couldn't put his full attention on it, he was too worried about Lee. 'Worried…' Gaara thought, 'Have I ever been…worried about anyone…other than myself?' He shook the thought out of his head. He heard a rustle. His head shot up to the bed. Lee was awake! Gaara quickly stood up and walked over next to the bed. He reached out a hand to put it on the young man's shoulder, but drew it back and crossed it over his chest. Lee's eyes opened slowly and glanced around the room, his gaze falling on Gaara. He sat up and took off the mask.

"Hold on," Gaara warned, "Let me summon one of the nurses." Gaara walked out of the hall and rang a bell that the maids had left in case they needed to be summoned. Two nurses came running down the hall, still a little groggy.

"Kazekage-sama?" Gaara led them inside. Lee was sitting up he had a dazed expression on his face. The nurses worked on removing the IV from his arm.

Once they finished, Gaara was alone with Lee again in his quarters. Lee pulled up the covers as a defensive impulse. Gaara reached out a hand, but Lee flinched and buried himself deeper into the blankets and pillows. Gaara withdrew his hand

"You ok?" Gaara asked, trying to mask his concern. Lee continued to look at him, almost frightened. Gaara just stared at him with a quizzical look on his face "Hey, Lee, are you ok?" Gaara asked getting closer.

Lee finally spoke, "L-Lee..?" Gaara was shocked. He now understood why Lee was acting so strange. "Lee? Is that who I am?...Lee?" Gaara practically fell backwards into his chair. Apparently, the blow to his head, had cause Lee's memory to erase, like it had been deleted.

Gaara regained his composure, "Y-Yes…don't you remember? It's me, your friend…Gaara…" Gaara had trailed off. The look on Lee's face said everything. He didn't know who he was, where he was, or much less….who Gaara was. Gaara was heartbroken. The one friend he had, because of this accident, didn't even remember him.

"Do you remember anything? Anything at all?" Lee thought, "I-I remember some fuzzy images of things, but…I don't recall what they are…or were…or where they took place. All I know is that I'm Lee…" Gaara's chest fell, "But," Lee continued, "Maybe…since you know who I am…maybe…maybe you could help me remember?" Lee had a look of hope and trust in his eyes. The look he gave was so sweet…so innocent, Gaara couldn't say no.

"Well…I haven't seen you in eight years, but I could try…" Lee slowly made his way out of bed, teetering a little bit, "You were my...?" Lee started, but didn't know how to end. "Friend," Gaara finished as he caught the Leaf who had just passed out from exhaustion, "I was your friend." Gaara whispered in his ear.

He put the shinobi in bed and pulled the covers up to his neck. Lee snored lightly as a faint smile blessed his features. Gaara couldn't help but smile, he felt almost as if he had just gotten a pet. He was now completely responsible for this young man, and he wasn't about to let anything happen to him.


	4. Chapter 4

Ok, Gaara's a big softie in this one ;)

Ok, Gaara's a big softie in this one ;)

Gaara sat in the chair and closed his eyes. A few hours of dozing would be nice, but before he could fall even into a light sleep he was awaken by a soft voice coming from only a few feet away, "Hey, umm….what's your name?" Lee asked in a slurred voice.

"Gaara….I'm Gaara, Do you remember?" Gaara asked hopefully.

"Gaara…I think I've heard it before…a long time ago but…I don't remember…exactly when…" Lee trailed off, falling into a deep sleep. Gaara chuckled and let himself slide into a light sleep, still sitting at the chair.

Gaara didn't remember what time it was, he just remembered being shaken back to consciousness and hearing a voice call out to him,

"Gaara? Gaara? Gaara?! Gaara!!... GAAARRRAAA!" Gaara blinked his eyes lazily. He saw two dark, wide open eyes about 3 inches from his face. Gaara's eyes widened, but he stayed calm.

"Mmm…what is it?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Come look!" Lee grabbed Gaara by the wrist and pulled him towards the window. "Hmm…this is strange, Lee is acting almost like…a child,' Gaara thought, 'Maybe it's just the amnesia taking it's toll. As he starts to regain his memory, maybe he'll also start to regain his maturity...well, I HOPE.' Lee had pulled Gaara towards the window. "Look Gaara! Look!" Lee said, pointing out the window at the beautiful display, "What is it?" Gaara looked at Lee shocked, but remembered that Lee would probably be asking him a lot of questions until he got him memory back.

"That, Lee," Gaara explained, "Is a sunrise."

"Wow!" Lee exclaimed, "It's so beautiful!" They stood staring at the sunrise until all the gorgeous reds, oranges, pinks, and yellows had vanished and were replaced by a light blue, that was sprinkled with clouds. Gaara finally turned towards the clock, 6:21. An unnaturally cool breeze swept through the village. Lee shivered as the wind made it's way up through the open window. Lee shivered again when a larger gust of this peculiar wind blew past the both of them. Gaara looked at him quizzically, but then he realized that Lee had nothing but his boxers on. His clothes had been damaged in the 'accident.' Gaara turned his slightly pink face away from the beautifully built Lee.

"If you're cold, you can borrow some of my clothes."

"W-What happened-d-d t-to my old-d clothes-s-s?" Lee asked shivering like mad due to the eerily cold wind.

"They were ruined in your little accident." Gaara said motioning to all the bandages on Lee's chest and head. Lee looked down and sighed sadly, "Isn't t-there ANYTHING left?" Gaara thought, "Hold on." He rushed back to the bedside. He picked up the small article of clothing and brought it back to Lee.

"Your headband survived, although it may not help keep you…" Gaara stopped and looked at Lee's face. It was one of Confusion, sadness, and what Gaara hoped to be recognition.

"It's a leaf…" Lee said, almost inaudibly, "…is it…why does it seem…so familiar?"

"Because it is," Gaara explained, "Do you remember what that headband means?" Lee stared at it and furrowed his brows in concentration, "When I see this leaf…I get this feeling of home…and some other feeling, but…I don't know what my home is or where….and I'm curious about what this other feeling could be…"

"Konoha." Gaara whispered, "Do you remember now? Your home…Konoha."

"Konoha?" Lee asked, but before Gaara could answer, the cold wind wrapped around him and Lee and chilled them to the bone. Lee squatted on the floor with is knees to his chest and his arms around his legs. Gaara helped him up and led him back to the bed. As soon as Lee was on the bed, he grabbed the blankets and tried to bury himself in it. Gaara chuckled to himself. He looked like a child this way, so small, trusting, and almost…Gaara shook his head and helped the leaf wrap himself up properly so he could warm up faster. Gaara walked back across the room to close the window. If he had not been so distracted, he would have noticed the strange presence, and he also would have given more thought to the fact that a wintry wind had just blown in the middle of July, but he was too focused on getting his friend warm.

He pulled a spare set of clothes out of his closet and brought them over to Lee. He held out the outfit to Lee, expecting him to take it,

"No." Lee refused. Gaara frowned and shoved the clothes closer to him, "No!" Lee scooted backwards on the bed so his back was against the headboard. 'God he's just like a child.' Gaara thought,

"Well, if you're going to act like a child, I'm going to TREAT you like one." Gaara scolded. He climbed onto the bed and pulled the blankets off of Lee. Or tried to rather, Lee had a firm grip on them. Gaara pulled harder, Lee fell over, but didn't let go, or change positions. Gaara and Lee wrested for the sheets, and soon wound up tied in a knot. Well, the sheets were tied in a knot, and the two of them were unfortunate enough to be inside the mass with only their heads and a limb actually visible.

"NOW look at what you've done!" Lee's face looked a little hurt but Gaara continued scolding him, "If you hadn't been so stubborn and just given me the blankets, you could've been dressed by now. NOW we have to practically roll ourselves to find help, since we can't possibly do it ourselves! Other than our heads, you only have a leg protruding, and I only have my right arm!" Lee's lip quivered as he pouted, his head bowed, he whimpered a bit. Gaara expression softened. Lee may be almost fully grown on the outside, but in his current mental state, he was still more of a child on the inside.

"I'm sorry, Lee." Lee looked up, still pouting, "I shouldn't have scolded you. You didn't do this on purpose." 'If only I could move my arm a little more, I could put an arm around his shoulder…oh well this will have to suffice…' Gaara leaned forward a bit to rub his check against Lee's, and Lee rubbed back. Gaara did this as a sign of apology and comfort; he had not intended it to be anymore than that.

Unfortunately, when you're an innocent bystander in the doorway watching your little brother nuzzle another guy, you tend to draw conclusions, "GAARA!?" Kankuro came fully into the room. Gaara withdrew his face, it had not yet dawned on him that it might look like he was flirting with the leaf rather than trying to comfort him.

"What?" Gaara asked, absolutely clueless. "Don't 'what' me you hornball, I'm getting you out of this tangled mass of sheets before you molest the poor boy to death." Kankuro was about to rip the blankets to shreds so he could help the 'poor boy' escape his supposedly perverted brother.

"Don't you DARE destroy this blanket!" Gaara growled out, his face was covered with a murderous intent. Kankuro took a closer look at the blanket, "Oh—" was all he could manage. "Don't worry uhh…"

"Kankuro" Gaara corrected. "Thanks. Don't worry Kankuro, Gaara Ni-san and I will get untangled!" Lee gave a promising smile. 'Ni-san…that's odd…oh well.' Kankuro sighed, that smile was so cute, not even he could resist it, "Sigh—fine, do whatever, just don't have sex once I leave the room."

"Kankuro!!" Gaara said in more than just a warning tone. "Sex..?" Lee asked, but Kankuro had already closed the door, "Sex? Gaara?" Gaara blushed and shook his head, "It's not something you need to know about right away." Lee nodded and turned away. "Umm.." Gaara didn't quite know how to ask his question, "I'm not your brother, so why'd you call me Ni-san?" Lee looked back up at Gaara with a small smile on his face, "Older brothers are people you look up to, people who you go to for help, and people who protect you and you want to protect no matter what!" That wasn't exactly the answer Gaara was looking for, but it worked, and it made him feel…good too. Lee smiled big for a second until he looked back at the ball of bedding, "Soo….how DO we get out?"


	5. Chapter 5

I just realized something…in my last chapter, when Lee gave his definition of an older brother…he shouldn't know what that is…b

I just realized something…in my last chapter, when Lee gave his definition of an older brother…he shouldn't know what that is…but hey...maybe not ALL of his memory is gone. ray of hope Oh, and BTW, they're both REALLY out of character TT.TT

Gaara continued to stare at the ball they were entrapped within.

"Damn…" he muttered under his breath. Gaara wasn't sure if Lee remembered cusses, and he certainly didn't want Lee's mind to be poisoned by them. He mentally slapped himself, 'Great, not only is Lee acting like a child, I'M acting like one of those over protective parents. Huh, well…no time to think about that. Dammit there must be SOME way out of this!' Gaara was starting to wriggle inside of the blanket, but he only felt it constrict them even more. Lee let out a small groan.

"You ok?" Worry was spread across his face, Gaara didn't try to hide it, he didn't want to. He wanted Lee to know that he was concerned. Lee looked at him, quickly changing his look of discomfort to a faked smile. Gaara growled at him and Lee's smile quickly disappeared and backed away a little bit, well, as far as he could being tied up the way he was.

"Don't smile like that."

"Like what Gaara-nii?" Gaara tried to ignore the cute way he was being addressed. 'It seems like Lee was always trying to weasel out of things by acting…like THAT.' Gaara shook his head and was about to scold him….but he couldn't bring himself to do it. 'He's just to innocent...too…' Gaara thought. Instead of giving the unnecessary scolding, Gaara kissed him on the forehead. Realizing what he was doing, he quickly withdrew and coughed, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Forget it." He said in dismissal, not even lifting his head to look at Lee, "Got any ideas on how to get out if here?" Lee smiled, a real smile. "What are you so happy about?" Gaara asked, finally looking at him. "You Gaara-nii! I'm happy to know that you care, that's all." Gaara tried to hold back the smile, but let a small one escape when Lee started to giggle. Lee continued to laugh as Gaara made many ridiculous faces as he tried to contain his smile. Gaara finally gave up and his face broke into a sincere smile. His first in years, and it was all because of Lee. The two continued to wallow in their mirth until Gaara remembered their current task. The pins and needles in his limbs were what had brought him back to actuality. He could see that Lee wasn't enjoying the numbing sensation either.

"Neh, Gaara-nii, why do my arms and legs hurt? They feel all weird and uncomfy."

"Your limbs are going numb. You see, the blood flow to your legs got cut off because of the blankets, and because there's not enough blood, your limbs are, in a sense, sending a message to you saying that they need blood. Understand?"

"Kinda…so we should get out right away right?"

"Yes, that would be best Lee."

"But…can I ask you one more thing...Gaara-nii?"

"Sigh…what?"

"I call you Gaara-nii…but you only call me Lee, why won't you call me something special?" Lee pouted, waiting for an answer.

'Wow,' Gaara thought, 'he really IS like a little kid.' "You see—I um…It's just that…" Gaara fumbled with his words until he sighed in defeat, "I'll think of something as soon as we get untangled ok?"

Lee started to pout again, but Gaara gave a 'Don't do it!' look and Lee's lip receded.

Gaara got to work on getting them untangled, but he leaned to far forward and caused the two of them to fall of the bed. Their faces met the hard, wooden floors with a loud thud, since they couldn't stop the fall. Now, their faces were pressed into the floor while Lee's leg was still stuck on the bed. Gaara managed to wriggle a little so his head was facing Lee. He was met with a pair of beautiful dark, round eyes that had tears in the corners.

"Aww, c'mon Lee, it couldn't hurt that bad!"

Lee sniffed and complained, "B-But it scared me how fast the ground came, and it hurt my nose."

Gaara sighed, "Lee—"

"Kiss it."

"W-What? Lee, I don't…"

"Please Gaara-nii?" Lee cut in.

'Dammit! He's so…' Gaara couldn't deny it to himself any longer, 'He's so…cute.' Gaara leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on Lee's reddening nose (A/N: it's red cause of the bruise, not cause of a blush). "Why'd I have to—" Gaara stopped when Lee kissed his nose right back.

Lee pulled away and smiled, "Now both of our noses are all better!" Gaara couldn't help but smile, but he knew that this was not the time for laughter or smiles, this was getting serious, how were they supposed to get out of this?

"Gaara-nii, my leg's stuck." Gaara turned his head as much as he could so he could see this new hindrance. Lee's leg was, indeed, stuck. Stuck in such a way that it would hurt if he tried to move it anywhere.

"Do you think you can free one of your arms at least?" Gaara felt Lee squirm about as he desperately tried to worm his arm out of the mass. Soon, the tips of three fingers could be seen, and then soon after, Lee's hand was fully visible. "Good, now try to get your arm out." More struggling. It took longer to get his arm out since there wasn't much room, but eventually they got it out. "Now, Lee, help me push up so we can use our hand to drag ourselves forward. That should get your leg down." Gaara suggested. This was more easily said then done, but eventually, they got Lee's leg free.

"Well, now that you have your arm free, we can try and untie some of these knots." Gaara was right, having two hands free made things much easier, but every time Lee's hand would even brush up against Gaara's he would blush and pull away as if he had been burnt be a red-hot branding iron. Lee didn't understand why, but he didn't let it bother him. Soon they had completely undone the knots and were waiting for the pins and needles they felt in their legs go away before they even thought about standing up.

"We did it Gaara-nii! We got the blankets off!" Lee was rejoicing as he sat up, leaning his still bare back against the side of the bed.

"Oh, have you thought of a name for me yet Gaara-nii?" Gaara thought frantically, 'Lee-kun? No…Lee-nii?...Hell no, that sounded awful…Lee-chan? Hmm…that could work, but it was too cute…and slightly feminine…crap…' "Uhh," Gaara stalled, "How about…" Lee was really excited, he was going to get a pet name from his Gaara-nii, but when Gaara didn't answer, Lee's expression slowly started to fade into one of disappointment. "I'm sorry Lee," Gaara said, taking the young, disappointed, and not to mention almost naked, boy into a hug from behind, "I just couldn't think of anything. Nothing was good enough." Lee smiled at this, 'Wow, Gaara-nii must really care if he couldn't think of anything good enough for me.' Lee placed his hands on one of Gaara's arms, gripping as if he never wanted Gaara to go. Gaara felt the same way. He wanted to hold Lee in his arms and keep him safe from all the horrors of the frightening and violent world that lay beyond the walls of the very building they currently took residence in. Gaara felt the boy shiver and remembered why they had gotten into that mess in the first place.

"Oh, that's right, you still need clothes. Lemme get something for you" Gaara was about to let go of Lee but Lee held fast. "If I can't have the blanket then I have to have you keep me warn Gaara-nii." Lee said, stubbornness once again prominent in his voice.

"No Lee, remember what happened the last time you were being stubborn?" In a sigh of defeat Lee let go of his arms. Gaara stood up, shaking his legs to get rid of the rest of the pins and needles. He reached for the long abandoned clothes and handed them to Lee. Lee sighed, DO I have to—" Lee's eyes met Gaara threatening gaze, "O—Ok….I'll do it." . He stood up and accepted the clothes, but as soon as he did this, Gaara pushed him into a nearby bathroom.

A few minutes later, Lee emerged in an outfit very similar to Gaara's. "You look nice." Gaara said, 'SHOOT! That was supposed to stay in my head.' But Lee just smiled and thanked him. Gaara blushed a little, but as quickly as the blush appeared, it disappeared once again.

"Neh, Gaara-nii, can we go out there?" Lee asked walking towards the window.

"Lee I don't think..."

"I wanna go," Lee said opening the window, "OUTSIDE!"

"LEE!"


	6. Chapter 6

Lee ran out the window and disappeared before Gaara could even blink

Lee ran out the window and disappeared before Gaara could even blink. 'Shit, he doesn't have his weights on, this is going to be IMPOSSIBLE!' he thought, remembering the first time Lee had taken of his weights. Gaara frantically searched for Lee; he looked all over Suna.

"LEE!? WHERE ARE YOU?!" Then, Gaara was a red blur run by him, "Lee?!" (A/N: in case you forgot, he's still wearing Gaara's clothes)

" HA HA! GAARA-NII! YOU CAN'T CATCH ME!" Lee was laughing as he ran circles around Gaara but then soon disappeared again.

"LEE! YOU STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" Gaara hated sounding like a parent, but it was the only way he could get Lee to listen to him…when he was in earshot. Gaara followed the direction of Lee's dust cloud into the heart of Suna's vast desert. He had been following Lee's trail for hours and there was still no sign of him, and it was starting to get dark. Huge, dark storm clouds had started coming in over the horizon. They were going to bring trouble, Gaara knew; he could almost sense a murderous intent coming from the clouds.

It had been 6 hours since Gaara had seen the boy and was getting increasingly worried. He decided to turn back and form a search party, when he heard sobs coming from far off in the distance. "Lee?" Gaara was off at a run again, listening to the sobs slowly start to crescendo as he got closer. He had come to the bottom of a cliff where there was a small crevice that Gaara could barely fit through. He remembered this crevice, though he hadn't been there for years. It was his secret hiding spot when he was still friends with HER.

Flashback

Gaara ran from the angry villagers. There were scratches on his cheeks, burning from the hot salty tears that ran down his face. There was a stab wound in his side from one of the villagers who had managed to get past his sand barrier. It wasn't fair. They had all jumped to conclusions just because he was the outcast, the weird one, the devil. Because he had been cursed as a demon at birth, he was the village's scapegoat. Anything that went wrong, was his fault. Including, what had just happened.

Flashback within flashback

Once again, Gaara was on the run. The kids of the village had just finished their taunts and had started chasing after him, all the while throwing rocks and chanting, "Run monster! Run!" One of the kids threw a larger rock and beamed it right at his head and Gaara fell to the ground. The gang started beating him up and kicking him in the stomach. When they were satisfied with the purple and blue marks and lumps on their victim, they spat on him, and left, laughing all the way. Gaara lay there sobbing and bleeding.

"Are you alright?" A girl with eyes dark as night was standing above him. She had a medical bag slung over her shoulder and an arm stretched out to the helpless boy. Little did Gaara know, that this was the beginning of a friendship…or maybe even more.

End flashback within flashback

During the past 10 years, Gaara and the girl, Kaya, had managed to keep their friendship secret and established a secret hiding spot. It was a cavern, hidden deep within the cliffs that surrounded Suna.

As often as they could, they would meet in their secret spot. During their younger years, they would frolic and play until dark. Sometimes, Gaara would make her fly using his sand. It made her so happy. Gaara would do anything to see his friend happy, and as years passed he realized that for the first time, he felt…love.

Then, on that one fateful day, within their secret hideout, was their last day together. They were collecting crystals that formed near the top of the cavern when Kaya's laughing face drooped into a somber frown.

She said, "Gaara-kun…there's something I have to tell you…" He looked at her and let her continue. "My father, he is…he…"

"What?"

"He wants me to…"

"To what? Kaya-san, what's happened?!"

"He wants me to…he's arranged for me to…" she blurted out the rest, "He's arranged for me to marry!" Gaara was stunned.

"Who?" He asked, his voice quivering.

"I—I don't even know…yet. All I know is that he's this noble from some Hidden Snow Village."

This hit Gaara hard. The one girl, no, the one person Gaara loved most was being sold to this man she didn't even know.

"So—so we won't…"

"No Gaara, I'll probably never—sob n-never s-see—" Her lip quivered, her voice was unsteady as she blubbered the last few words. She started to cry. Gaara reached out to her and was about to put his hand on her shoulder when instead; she ran into his arms and embraced him. It was their first embrace. He hugged her back hard. He could feel his shoulder dampen with her tears as she sobbed. He rocked her side to side and rubbed her back gently in effort to comfort her. They stood there, sobbing girl in the arms of her best friend.

"Kaya, you're only 15! How could you possibly—"

"I'm going to be 16 soon. You know that, and sniffle and as long as my father allows it then…plus…"

"…"

"…Well…this guy has had his eye on me." She sniffled; stifling her tears, "So he proposed to me…well he told father that he wished to have me for his own." She sniffled again, "At first, Father denied his request, but when the man revealed that he was a Kage, my power-hungry father sold me in the blink of an eye." He could sense the rising anger in the chakra she was emitting. Gaara clamped his arms around her even harder. "G-Gaara-kun cough I c-can't b-breathe." Gaara loosened his grip just enough to let his friend breathe.

"He's giving you away, for his own gain." Gaara's eyes changed. They were not the cool clear concerned ones, but dark and deadly.

"Gaara. Please…listen, I know how cheesy this sounds, but goodbye is not forever." Gaara couldn't speak. He was afraid that he himself would start crying. Tears had started falling from Kaya's eyes once more. Gaara couldn't stand to see her cry. She had never cried before.

"I—I would rather stay here for the rest of my life…with you." Gaara pulled back a little so he could look the older girl in the eye. "Gaara, I—I love you"

"Kay—ya…" Gaara's tears held back no longer. And he let himself cry. This girl he had loved so long, now loved him back.

"Gaara…"

"…sob…"

"Listen Gaara, my father will be looking for me, he wants me to depart with him….tonight." Gaara looked at her, shocked. This moment with her, might be his last.

"Kaya, I—"

"Yes Gaara?"

"I-I lo—"

"Shhh…I know." Gaara leaned forward, lips pursed, eyes closed. He was slowly starting to close the space between them. He was so close to kissing those beautiful soft lips when he heard shouts from outside.

"Has anyone checked this cavern yet?"

"Naw, she might be hiding in there she isn't anywhere else!" Kaya gripped Gaara's shoulders more tightly, and Gaara got the message.

"Hold on." He said as he picked her up bridal style and flew towards the ceiling on a cloud of sand. The men, and Kaya's father, came bursting into the cavern. They looked around and searched for any ninjutsu or genjustsu that could be hiding her, when one man looked up and said, "There! Someone! Go check that sand cloud, I bet that demon probably has her as his captive!"

Several ninjas ran up the wall and before Gaara knew it, his hands were empty, and he managed to see Kaya screaming in protest as she looked towards Gaara, arm outstretched.

"KA—" But Gaara was knocked out, never to see her again. When he regained consciousness, he stumbled out of the cave and into the bright light. HE was about to collapse again when he heard a loud long scream, that stopped abruptly, too abruptly. Gaara turned himself to sand and traveled in the direction of the scream, finding himself at the edge of a cliff. He looked over the edge, and in a pool of blood he saw…

"Kaya…KAYA! KAYA!" Tears fell from his check again as he screamed her name in vain He already knew that the girl…was dead.

"DAMN YOU DEMON! YOU'VE KILLED MY DAUGHTER!"

'No! You're wrong! I love her! I would NEVER kill her! It's you own damn fault for selling her!' Gaara mentally screamed as he was chased out of Suna…again

End Flashack

"Lee?" He called at the entrance to the all to familiar cavern. "Are you in here?"


	7. Chapter 7

Lee looked up at Gaara, "Gaara-nii-chan!" He glomped Gaara, but was then abruptly pushed away. "Gaara-nii..." His eyes started to puddle up again, but Gaara would not remove his firm grasp on the leaf's shoulders, nor would he soften his angry face.

"Lee. You can NOT go running out like that!"

"Gaa-"

"You could've gotten yourself hurt! What if someone out there was trying to hurt you again?!"

"..sniffle...Nii-chan..."

"Those men could've STILL been after you! You could have DIED out there! YOU SCARED ME TO DEATH! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!?"

Lee managed to squeak out a feeble sentence between sobs, "I sniffle sob just wan-sniff-wanted to be out s-side and play with sob Nii-chan." Lee broke down into a full-fledged fit. He was on the ground curled up sobbing. He was not used to Gaara yelling at him like this and he didn't like it. Gaara could feel guilt tugging at his shirtsleeve, but he knew that Lee had to learn his lesson. When Lee's crying had slowed a bit Gaara kneeled in front of him and placed a gentle hand on Lee's shoulder.

"Lee, I'm not sorry about the things I said, they were all true." Lee started crying hard again, "But I am sorry for yelling at you, I shouldn't have made you so upset." Gaara hugged Lee, "I'm sorry Lee."

Then Lee's crying stopped abruptly, his sad face turned into an evil smirk. He grabbed onto Gaara and surrounded him in a block of ice.

'Lee' chuckled maniacally, "Hmhmhm, you seem to have a lower guard than I expected demon." A poof of smoke and Lee was no longer in front of him, but some deathly pale man with steely blue eyes that showed no mercy.

"Who the hell are you?" Gaara tried to ask calmly, but his voice was shaky from surprise, "Where is Lee? What have you done to him!?"

"Lee? That gullible, little, leaf shinobi? Well, he was never here. Well, he was, but...Oh how rude of me I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Kyojin Masashi" This mysterious man laughed again, "You seem a trifle confused, let me explain. Shall I start from the beginning?"

Gaara just glared.

"Well, here's how it goes:

"You remember a young woman that used to live here correct? Well, she was the heir to the noblest clan in your little dust bowl. Well, thanks to a young man we all know and love twitch it seems that my arrangements to move up in the world were set back a few years. I mean, she was a key part of my domination. You see, I was not planning on taking over the world be force, but instead—"

"You were going to use her." Gaara's voice was barely above a whisper, but his tone was enough to scare someone to the brink of insanity, or death if you were faint of heart.

"Well, yes. You didn't think I really LOVED her did you? Emotions are such a hindrance." Gaara's anger was reaching a point it never had before. His aura alone began to crack the ice. "Oh no you don't. I've worked hard to get you here."

He performed another technique that completely entrapped Gaara in a huge spherical ice structure that had been woven together with ungodly amounts of chakra.

"THEN you had to get me preaching and nobody likes listening to that jibber-jabber. But after he took out my underlings, twice I might add, I figured since he worked so hard to protect you all those years I just had to take him out, but you can understand that can't you?"

'_He protected me? After all this time?' _Gaara thought. He felt like crying, after all those years, Lee had always protected him, even though they had just met, Lee thought of him as much of a friend as Gaara thought of Lee. _'But what did Lee have to do with all of this?' _

"And you see, this is the interesting part this is where your friend comes in." Kyojin was having too much fun teasing his prisoner to notice a creeping shadow along one of the back walls. "I froze him, in a block of ice, and simply made an ice clone, but here's the FUN part! I ABOSRBED the clone you see?! THAT IS **MY** _SPECIAL ABILITY!! _AND WHEN I ABSORB THEM I CAN BECOME THEM! I KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT THEM! I **AM** THEM! I CAN READ THEIR MINDS, I LEARN ALL THEIR MOVES AND **NO ONE CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE!"** He laughed maniacally for what seemed like eternity. This mission of becoming supreme had eaten away at his sanity

'_He's mad! Completely insane! almost...RABID!'_

"AND NOW! I GET THE CHANCE TO **KILL **YOU FOR INTERFERRING WITH MY PLANS AND ALL I NEED OF YOU IS YOUR** CLONE!!**"

Gaara would feel his chakra being pulled out of him. He felt his body getting weaker and weaker; if no one came to his aid, he would surely die. His vision blurred, all his muscles went slack, and he was losing consciousness.

'_Lee, I'm sorry Lee. You did so much to protect me, and all these years I've done nothing. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry...'_ That was Gaara's last thought before he heard a dimming battle cry and the breaking of ice.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey everybody, this is the last chapter. TT.TT but do not despair! For there is a sequel! looks around at groaning croud **

**...**

**well...you didn't HAVE to read it!**

* * *

_...beep...beep...beep...beep..._

Gaara was regaining consciousness on a soft bed under hot covers. His skin felt like it was on fire. He knew better than to sit up in his condition so he examined his surrounding as much as possible. There was a pulsing computer screen, an IV drip, and other such machines. His vision was still slightly blurry but he could see a long green figure and several women dressed in white dresses and Kankuro's unmistakable outfit.

He groaned to alert the others that he was awake, and more importantly alive. Lee rushed over.

"Gaara-san. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine Lee. I'm not dead."

"Good. I'm glad." Lee smiled.

'_He's back to normal...'_ Gaara mused sadly. He tried to sit up, but Lee wouldn't let him, "You need your rest. You took such good care of me while I had my memory lapse. Now it's my turn to take care of you."

"What about...whatever the hell that guy's name was." Gaara's slurred speech was hard to understand, but Lee got the general idea.

"He—He's gone Gaara. I wasn't strong enough to apprehend him, but he has your clone Gaara, and he has mine as well."

"Clone? I don't...remember..."

The nurses left out of respect so that their Kazekage and his friend could talk alone in private.

"He was able to read your mind: your thoughts; your memories; everything, and he can turn himself into you through this knowledge."

"He...got..away?" Gaara was falling prey to unconsciousness, but he wouldn't let it overcome him completely. He NEEDED to hear what Lee had to say. He wanted to hear the voice of the man he had protected for the past several days.

"Yes, I'm sorry Gaara. I've failed you." Lee bowed and closed his eyes.

"It's ok. When I get better, I will kill him."

"I shall help."

"No."

"But, Gaara-san..."

"No, Lee."

"B-But why not?" Lee fell to the floor and his eyes started to puddle.

"Oh, oh no...Lee..."

"I wanna help you Gaara-nii-chan!"

"Lee..."

"You helped me so much and I've always wanted to help you!"

"Lee, I cannot let you get hurt again."

"...?"

"You've been defending me since we met. I have to pay you back. It's my turn to take responsibility." He groaned in pain as he tried to sit up and get out of bed.

"You're my friend! Of course I would." Lee said returning to his normal self once again.

"Lee-kun..." Lee's head snapped up and his eyes started to puddle. Gaara was going to scold him for being so reckless, but instead all he could say was, "Thank you. Lee-kun."

Lee was about to cry from pure happiness, but he returned to his normal side, wiped his eyes and looked at Gaara with a determined smile, "We shall get him! We just have to figure out what he's after!"

Gaara nodded.

"Gaara-san, I'm going to return to Konoha and see what I can dig up. The second I find something about this mysterious man, I shall inform you myself immediately. Good-bye Gaara-san!" Lee gave Gaara a chaste hug, and Gaara swore he saw a hint of a blush on Lee's cheeks. He jumped out the window and ran off towards Konoha/.

"Yeah. Ok, I'm getting out of bed." Gaara said to no one in particular. One of the nurses walked back in to check on him. His back was facing her when she dropped his lunch tray/

"Kazekage-sama!!"

"Hmm?"

"What's that on your back!?"

"What's what?"

"That mark!"

Gaara walked over to a mirror and froze at the sight.

"Wh—What do you think it could mean?"

"I don't know... I don't remember anything about that fight. I remember walking into the cavern then nothing."

Then a flash of light surrounded Gaara. The entire room glowed so brightly that the nurse had to shut her eyes and turn away.

She looked back at Gaara and fell back to the floor, "KAZEKAGE-SAMA!?

* * *

Well everybody, there you have it. A cliff hanger ending. Go check out my other story for the rest 3

love you all! Really I do!...no actually, that would be unrealistic, but I can still PRETEND that I love you all

JK! totally kidding. If I knew who you were the probability that I would love you would increase but since the chances of me knowing you are like 1 in a million (quite literally) I cannot accurately say that I 'love' you ALL...I shall stop rambling...here!

* * *


End file.
